Intentions to Marry, 1875

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840387, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

This register is quite fragile and some of the pages are damaged or even missing.

Page 697

District of Hamiltons Quarter ending 30 September 1875 Registrar Richard Edward Field

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

7 July 1875

Richard Henry Brown
Selina Maria Louisa Williams

Richard Henry Browne
Selina Maira Louisa Williams
💍 1875/1334

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Engineer

30 years
20 years

Naseby
Naseby

30 months
22 months

In the Parsonage, Naseby, Hamilton District

75/1371A

Edward Williams, Father of minor

7 July 1875

Revd. Edward Williams

No	79
Date of Notice	7 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Brown	Selina Maria Louisa Williams
BDM Match (94%)	Richard Henry Browne	Selina Maira Louisa Williams
	💍 1875/1334
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Engineer
Age	30 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Naseby	Naseby
Length of Residence	30 months	22 months
Marriage Place	In the Parsonage, Naseby, Hamilton District
Folio	75/1371A
Consent	Edward Williams, Father of minor
Date of Certificate	7 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd. Edward Williams

11 August 1875

John James Beattie
Martha Stewart

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

28 years
24 years

Kyeburn
Kyeburn, Hamilton District

7 years
9 months

In the Office of Registrar of Marriages, Naseby

See RG 75/636

11 August 1875

R. E. Field, Registrar

No	80
Date of Notice	11 August 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Beattie	Martha Stewart
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	28 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Kyeburn	Kyeburn, Hamilton District
Length of Residence	7 years	9 months
Marriage Place	In the Office of Registrar of Marriages, Naseby
Folio
Consent	See RG 75/636
Date of Certificate	11 August 1875
Officiating Minister	R. E. Field, Registrar

16 August 1875

Jno James Beattie
Caroline Berry Rolls

John James Beattie
Caroline Rolls
💍 1875/2804

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

28 years
18 years

Naseby
Naseby

7 years
12 years

In the residence of Daniel Robertson, Naseby, District of Hamilton

75/3058

Daniel Robertson, Father of minor

16 August 1875

Revd. J. McCash Smith

No	81
Date of Notice	16 August 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jno James Beattie	Caroline Berry Rolls
BDM Match (77%)	John James Beattie	Caroline Rolls
	💍 1875/2804
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	28 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Naseby	Naseby
Length of Residence	7 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Daniel Robertson, Naseby, District of Hamilton
Folio	75/3058
Consent	Daniel Robertson, Father of minor
Date of Certificate	16 August 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd. J. McCash Smith

24 September 1875

Arthur Sharkey
Martha Stewart

Arthur Sharkey
Martha Herbert
💍 1875/2800

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

35 years
24 years

Kyeburn Diggings
Kyeburn Diggings, Hamilton District

10 years
12 months

In the residence of Arthur Sharkey Kyeburn Diggings, Hamilton District

75/3054

24 September 1875

Revd. E. Roger

No	82
Date of Notice	24 September 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Sharkey	Martha Stewart
BDM Match (82%)	Arthur Sharkey	Martha Herbert
	💍 1875/2800
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	35 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Kyeburn Diggings	Kyeburn Diggings, Hamilton District
Length of Residence	10 years	12 months
Marriage Place	In the residence of Arthur Sharkey Kyeburn Diggings, Hamilton District
Folio	75/3054
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 September 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd. E. Roger

27 September 1875

Oscar Davis
Fanny Ash

Oscar Davis
Fanny Ash
💍 1875/2799

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

40 years
20 years

Naseby
Naseby Hamilton District

Three days
7 years

In the residence of Samuel Ash, Naseby, District of Hamilton

75/3053

Samuel Ash, Father of minor

27 September 1875

Revd. Jas. McCash Smith

No	83
Date of Notice	27 September 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oscar Davis	Fanny Ash
	💍 1875/2799
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	40 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Naseby	Naseby Hamilton District
Length of Residence	Three days	7 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Samuel Ash, Naseby, District of Hamilton
Folio	75/3053
Consent	Samuel Ash, Father of minor
Date of Certificate	27 September 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd. Jas. McCash Smith

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).